Most religions of the world have religious texts or scriptures in which core values, tenets, and traditions are written. The religious texts or scriptures are extensively studied by many people, including members and clergy of the subject religion, members and clergy of other religions, scholars, historians, and many other interested people. Religious texts hold a sacred place in peoples' practice of their chosen religion.
For example, the scripture foundation of Christianity is the Bible, which contains the principles, values, and beliefs of Christians around the world. Countless people have closely studied the Bible throughout history and continue to do so in modern society. Every year, approximately 50-100 million Bibles are sold in the United States alone.
Because religion holds a personal, intimate place in peoples' lives, some students of religion would like to have customized religious works. Conventional customized religious texts are generally limited to adding a person's name or initials to a book cover or selecting a custom book cover. Other customizable religious texts might allow purchasers to add their names to the text of the scripture, such as by inserting users' names when reciting psalms or prayers. However, none of the known customizable religious texts or scriptures provide a user with the ability to create an on-demand religious text publication with a robust selection of exterior and/or interior customization options with an option of adding selected user content to the existing religious scripture.
Further, most religious texts are printed on thin paper, such as Bible scriptures that are traditionally printed on paper having a standard weight of about 28-40 grams per square meter. Printing on such thin paper presents many challenges, such as the bulkiness of the resulting printed text and the risk of damaging the paper during the step of heating the paper in conventional heat-fusion printing processes.
Conventional digital printing techniques deposit powders, such as thermoplastic powders, onto a substrate like paper. The powder is then melted using a heat-fusion technique according to the input digital images, which results in a raised image affixed to the paper. The raised ink causes the thickness of the printed paper to increase and thus the overall bulkiness of the printed text to increase. The resulting printed texts are bulky and can be undesirable.
Further, the heating process that is required to melt the powdered ink and other toner to the paper can damage thinner paper, such as paper having a weight below 50 grams per square meter. The heat-damaged paper results in a low quality end product. Because of the known problems with printing on thin paper, publishers are often unwilling to print single copies or low volume orders of any publication request that is to be printed on thin paper, including customized religious works.
Therefore, methods and systems that allow users to create on-demand publishing of customized religious texts is a desirable advancement in the art.